Quick guide on app store optimization

May 16, 2015

There are more than 1.5 million mobile apps existing on Google Play Store and more than 1.4 million apps on Apple store. This number of mobile app is increasing every month, with such a massive amount of apps it has become difficult to get your app discovered because the competition is very tough.

If you are one of them who struggle to get the mobile app at top positions in various app stores then you need to learn and apply several approaches of ASO (App Store Optimization) for marketing your app. But before you go any further, I would like to explain a little bit about ASO.

ASO, what is it?

ASO is the procedure of optimizing mobile applications to get better ranks for an application on various app stores’ search results. ASO helps your app to get a big exposure and the big exposure brings more users to your app. That increased visibility & traffic improves the percentage of potential customers that download your app.

The app store optimization process requires you to crucially understand the base of your target customers and target keywords. When you reveal which keywords and target audience to capture you can create an effective marketing plan for your app that converts visitors into customers.

A study by analytics company TUNE stated that 53% of apps are discovered via app store searches. The study shows that app store search is the most used way to discover and download a new app. In this case it is very important for you to optimize your mobile applications so that it can rank higher in app results.

As I said before, there are approximately 2.9 million mobile apps are available for both Android and iOS platforms and each day the rankings of apps in the app stores are changing. This situation creates a great competition among millions of mobile apps. But the good thing is that most of the app publishers haven’t yet invested in app store optimization. So this is a golden chance for you to take advantage of ASO. If you start doing app store optimization for your smartphone apps as soon as possible, then you will see a great impact on your app’s complete success as well as rankings.

Components that can affect your ASO

There are many components that can affect your app store optimization, here is a list of them:

Keyword research

Just like SEO, ASO also requires you to do keyword research, once you know the right keywords for your app you are able to target the right audience. To decide the relevant target keywords you can use Keyword.io tool. However, you need to choose search phrases wisely to get maximum outcome.

App Title & description

After keyword research the next component that affects ASO is the mobile app’s title and description. Attractive app title with relevant keywords catches the attention of users as well app store search engines.

Another element is the description which should tell every detail about your app to users. You should always write the important features in the beginning and then you can describe your app in details along with the relevant keywords.

App logo

App logo is one of the key factors that decide whether a user will tap on your app search result or not. So you must make sure to design a great looking app logo, which is eye catching. You can also design a logo that creates a 3D effect, it can make your app’s appearance powerful.

Screenshots

Screenshots can tell a good story about your app, so you should make use of it to get user’s attention. The best strategy is to consider this space as an advertising channel, this way you can motivate yourself to create brilliant screenshots.

Video trailer

Video trailer can also make a huge difference as it shows the overview of your mobile app to the users. The video is also like an opportunity where you can advertise your app’s features, so make the best use of it.

Competitive research

Just like people do competitor analysis for websites you have to do competitor analysis for your mobile app. This way you can discover what exactly your competitors are doing, you can also find out relevant keywords, strategies for your smartphone application through competitor research.

Conclusion:

If you are not applying ASO to improve your app’s organic ranking on app stores then you are making a big mistake. App store optimization can open the floodgates of downloads for your mobile application, but you need to follow these key points to get the maximum output. But that is part of ASO which can earn downloads for you, but to retain the user, you need to build an awesome app which offers unique design and features.